Future in the Hands of a Coffee Cup
“I see a dog in your future!”
Dating back to 600 AD, the art of coffee cup readings is rooted in the Chinese art of tea leaf fortune telling, something that has been practised for hundreds of years. Monks were the first to practice such a tradition, primarily due to the fact that they ceremoniously consumed tea every day.
The art of tea leaf reading was then adapted by the Arabs, who, instead, used coffee grounds to read fortunes. The Arab population was also the first to discover coffee beans in around the same period in time, with coffee having proliferated the markets of Western Europe and America by the late 18th century.
Both readings from tea leaves and coffee grounds are known as either tasseography or tasseomancy, with the art still alive and practised in countries such as Greece, Russia, Armenia, Persia and Yugoslavia. Irrespective of what the varying pictures may depict, interpretation is in fact very similar, with 50 per cent of what is told of peoples’ fortunes based in knowledge and the other half in intuition.
In order that readings from coffee grounds can be accurately read, it is important that the coffee should be sipped in a relaxed environment with the individual in a contemplative mood.
In terms of example symbols or pictures seen within coffee grounds, rings are said to mean the closing of a deal, while circles with a dot inside are viewed as a person’s desire for a family that will be fulfilled. An almost ‘firework’ display of grounds, meanwhile, signifies an argument or a fight, with a more ordered square interpreted as a new home.